How to Make Beaded Necklaces

If you enjoy crafts and do it yourself projects, learning how to make beaded necklaces should be right up your alley. You can be incredibly creative because there are so many different types of beads that you can combine for different effects.

Tips for Making Beaded Necklaces

• Mix together a selection of the beads that you are planning on using in your necklace and pour the beads into a glass. Hold the glass up next to different fabrics and fabric colors to get an idea of how the necklace will look in "real life."
• Lay out your pattern first before you start to string your beads. This will make it easier to change your pattern if it doesn't look right to you.
• Use a light colored towel to sort and place your beads and patterns. This will help prevent the beads from rolling onto your chair, the floor, the other side of the table and so on.
• Put your biggest beads in the center of the necklace.
• The smallest beads can go on the ends of your necklace towards the clasps.
• Hang a pendant instead of beads in the center of the necklace.
• Experiment with different stringing materials. For example, you can make a pretty ribbon necklace with beads as accents. Just make sure that the holes in your beads are smaller than the width of the ribbon so that the beads will stay in place after the beads are strung. Or, you might light to try knotting beads into a design using hemp. Or try a silver beaded necklace.
• Try different kinds of beads. If you focus primarily on glass beads, switch to beads made of wood or clay just for the fun of it.
• Keep all of your leftover beads, even if only a few. You can still use "onesies" and "twosies" in other projects. For example, you might, at some time, create a necklace that is based on graduating color hues or graduating sizes.